News of the Day From Across the Nation

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Updated 11:19 pm, Thursday, February 14, 2013

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1 Remains IDd: The burned remains found in a California mountain cabin have been positively identified as fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, an official with the San Bernardino County sheriff's office said Thursday. The identification was confirmed using dental records. Officials did not give a cause of death. Dorner killed four people, including two law enforcement officers, in a revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing, police said.

2 Embezzled: A former city bookkeeper in Illinois was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison Thursday for embezzling more than $53 million from her community in one of the worst abuses of public trust in state history. Rita Crundwell, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud for embezzling money from the city of Dixon from 1991 until her arrest in April, apologized in a federal courtroom in Rockford.

3 Military burial: The Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday it has decided to allow the same-sex spouse of a member of the military to be buried in a U.S. national cemetery. The Oregon couple will become the first same-sex couple buried together in a national military cemetery, said U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. The waiver applies only to retired Lt. Col. Linda Campbell and her deceased spouse, Nancy Lynchild. It does not signal a policy change.

4 Retiring: Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the oldest member of the U.S. Senate at 89, said Thursday he will retire at the end of his term. Lautenberg faces growing pressure to step down given a likely primary challenge from Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

5 Armed guards:National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre has renewed his call for armed guards in schools and urged gun owners to "stand and fight" for the Second Amendment. In a Thursday speech billed as the NRA response to President Obama's State of the Union call for new gun regulations, LaPierre told the National Wild Turkey Federation in Nashville that Obama's speech didn't mention school security.

6 Artificial retina: The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first treatment to give limited vision to people who are blind, involving a technology called the artificial retina. The device allows people with a certain type of blindness to detect crosswalks, people in cars and large numbers or letters.

7 Synthetic pot: Health officials say synthetic marijuana, plant material that has been sprayed with chemicals to mimic the high from pot, has been linked to kidney damage in 16 teens and young adults who were hospitalized last year in six states, including Oregon and New York. All of them recovered but five needed dialysis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it doesn't know what caused the kidney damage.

8 Public enemy: A drug kingpin in Mexico who has never set foot in Chicago has been named the city's new Public Enemy No. 1 - the same notorious label assigned to Al Capone at the height of the Prohibition-era gang wars. The Chicago Crime Commission announced the move Thursday, saying it considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because he's the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in the city.

9 Rhino horns: A New York City antiques dealer has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he illegally bought some rhinoceros horns. David Hausman was fined $28,000 in federal court Thursday for breaking laws intended to protect endangered black rhinos. In pleading guilty last summer, he said he knew the horns needed to be over 100 years old to be a legal sale. He admitted he double-crossed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by offering to help fight illegal sales of rhinoceros horns, then buying some himself.

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